Door locking system



July 10, 1962 w. c. RIESTER DOOR LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Dec. 22, 1958INVEN TOR. WILLIAM C- R/ESTER ATTORNEYS 3,043,392 DOOR LOCKING SYSTEMWilliam C. Riester, Williamsville, N.Y., assignor to Trico ProductsCorporation, Buffalo, N .Y. Filed Dec. 22, 1958, Ser. No. 782,111 6Claims. (Cl. 180-82) The present invention relates to a door lockactuating system for an automotive vehicle.

It is one object of the present invention to provide an amprovedautomatic locking systemfor a vehicle which will cause locking of thedoors incidental to the normal operation of the vehicle without anyrequirement for deliberate action on the part of the vehicle operatorand which will maintain the doors of the vehicle in a locked conditionuntil they are manually unlocked by a person within the vehicle or bythe use of a door key from outside of the vehicle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improvedautomatic door locking system for an automotive vehicle wherein theapparatus which causes automatic door locking incidental to normaloperation of the vehicle also inherently prevents the operation of theautomatic door locking arrangement when the vehicle is left unattendedwith its engine in operation.

Another object of the present invention'is to provide an improvedautomatic door locking system for a motor vehicle which utilizesextremely few parts and therefore can be added to a vehicle at verylittle expense. Other objects and attendant advantages of the presentinvention will readily be perceived hereafter.

The present invention relates to a door locking system for a vehiclewherein fluid pressure motors are used for actuating the door locks.Manifold vacuum is used to evacuate a storage tank which may be placedin communication with the door locking motors through a manuallyactuated control for the purpose of locking or unlocking the door locksfrom within the vehicle. In addition, the door locking motors are incommunication with a portion of the vehicle carburetor through which airpasses in an amount which varies directly with the speed of the vehicleengine. Upon an increase of vehicle engine speed, as occurs duringacceleration or running of the engine above idling, increased air flowthrough the carburetor will cause an 'aspirating effect on the door lockmotors to cause them to actuate the door locks to a locked condition.This aspirating effect causes the motors to exert a locking influence onthe vehicle doors as long as the vehicle engine is being operated abovea predetermined minimum speed. This, in turn, acts as a safety featurefor preventing the opening of the vehicle doors when it is operated withthe engine running above the above-mentioned predetermined speed.However, when the vehicle is brought to a stop with its engine idling,the vacuum produced by the aspirating efiect of the air passing throughthe carburetor is no longer of a sufiicient magnitude to prevent thedoors from being manually opened from within the vehicle. However, thedoor locks are of the construction which causes the doors to remainlocked until they are manually unlocked. This feature obviates therequirement for locking each of the doors individually upon leaving thevehicle, it being necessary to lock only those doors which were actuallyopened during the process of leavjing the vehicle. 7 V 4 The automaticlocking of the vehicle usually occurs substantially on the starting ofthe vehicle engine because during this period sufficient air flowthrough the carburetor is experienced to effect sufficient aspirationof. the door lock motors. However, in order to preclude a vehicleoperator or mechanic from locking himself out of the vehicle whileworking on an operating vehicle engine, a simple atent 'ice series valveis provided in the conduit leading between the carburetor and the doorlock motor; this valve being closed whenever the vehicle engine hood isopen. The present invention will be more fully understood when thefollowing portions of the specification are read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of an automotive vehiclemounting the improved door locking system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view, partially in cross-section, of the valve which is usedto interrupt evacuation of the door locking motors when the vehicle hoodis raised;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a check valve which is utilized inthe door locking system;

FIG. 4 is a view, partially in cross-section, of a manual control foractuating the door locking motors;

FIG. 5 is a view, partially in cross-section, of a door locking motorcoupled to the door lock assembly, this figure being primarily for thepurpose of illustrating the lock structure; and

FIG. 6 is a view, taken along line VIVI of FIG. 5.

A door locking system is installed in the vehicle 10 (FIG. 1) having anengine 11 with the usual intake manifold 12. As can be seen from FIG. 1,a vacuum tank 13 is coupled to manifold 12 by conduit 14 having checkvalve 15 therein. As is well-known in the art, vacuum tank 13 will beevacuated during periods of high manifold vacuum, and this vacuum willbe retained within the tank during periods of low manifold vacuum due tothe conventional operation of check valve 15.

One aspect of the present invention is to automatically lock the vehicledoors as soon as possible after the placing of the vehicle engine inoperation in order to safeguard the occupants of the vehicle againstunauthorized intrusion. More specifically, whenever the vehicle engineis in operation and the accelerator is depressed, the throttle valve 16of carburetor 17 is opened to permit increased air flow to the vehicleengine. increased air flow, in passing through the induction passage ofthe carburetor housing, creates an aspirating effect on conduit 18 whichnormally communicates intelligence of the rate of air flow through thecarburetor to distributor 19 for the purpose of adjusting the enginespark. Such an arrangement is well known in the automative field and adisclosure of the same may be seen in the Bryant Patent No. 2,096,158.Coupled to conduit 18 as by T 20, is one end of conduit 21, the otherend of which is coupled to nipple 22 (FIG. 2) of valve 23. One end of aconduit 24 is coupled to nipple 25' extending from valve 23, and theother end of conduit 24 is coupled to one side of check valve 25 (FIGS.1 and 3). Conduit 26 has one end thereof coupled to check valve 25 andthe other end thereof coupled to T 27 which is in communication withconduit 28 leading to conduits 29 and 30 which are in communication withfluid pressure door locking motors 31. Conduit 28 is also incommunication with conduit 32 which, in turn, is in communication withconduits 33 and 34 leading to motors 31 in the rear doors of thevehicle.

Valve 23 (FIGS. 1 and 2) is for the purpose of permitting vacuum inducedin conduit 18 by the aspirating effect of airflow in the inductionpassage of the carburetor 17 to actuate door locking motors 31 throughthe above described path'when the vehicle engine hood 35 is closed. Morespecifically, when hood 35 is closed, plunger 36 of valve 23 assumes thesolid line position shown in FIG. 2 wherein poppet valve 37 isunseatedfrom valve seat 38. This permits communication between conduits 21 and24 through the valve. On the other hand, when the vehicle engine hood israised, spring 39 will bias poppet valve 37 into engagement with itsseat 38 to prevent communication between conduits 21 and 24. It will bereadily appreciated that whenever the vehicle engine hood is opened,

vacuum which is induced in conduit 18 by the air flow through carburetor17 will be inefiective for actuating door locking motors 31. Thisprevents a person, such as an automobile mechanic, from loclc'ng himselfout of the vehicle while manipulating the engine from underneath thehood. It will, of course, be understood that a suitable mountingarrangement (not shown) is provided for affixing valve 23 to theautomobile body.

Whenever the vehicle engine is accelerated with hood 35 closed, theaspirating elfect of air passing through the carburetor will causeevacuation of chamber 40 (FIG. of door locking motors 31 through theabove-described path, including check valve 25. More specifically, checkvalve (FIG. 3) includes a housing containing valve element 41' normallybiased by spring 42 against its seat 43. Upon the initial experiencingof vacuum in the valve chamber proximate conduit 24, valve element 41will unseat against the bias of spring 42 to permit conduit 26 and theother conduits in communication therewith leading to the door lockingmotors to be evacuated for thepurpose of actuating the door lockingmotors. When the vacuum in conduits 24 and 26 is approximately equal,spring 42 will return valve element 4-1 to the position shown in FIG. 3whereby the latter tends to maintain the vacuum in chamber of motor 31for a sufficiently long time to insure the actuation of motor 31. Itwill be noted that a bleed 44 is provided in the valve seat forpermitting the pressure within conduit 26 ultimately leading to chamber40 of motors 31 to equalize with the pressure existing within thechamber of valve 25 in communication with conduit 24. In addition toserving the foregoing purpose, check valve 25 serves additional purposesas described in in detail hereafter.

The operation of latch lock 46, which is coupled to motor 31 (FIGS. 1and 5) will now be described, it being understood that the other latchlocks may be of same construction. More specifically, when chamber 40 ofmotor 31 is evacuated in the above-described manner, diaphragm 45 willbe pulled downwardly to the position shown in FIG. 5, and shaft 45 whichis suitably attached thereto will be moved downwardly a correspondingamount to actuate latch lock 46 to a locked condition.

Latch lock 46 operates in the following manner: A bell crank lever 47 ispivotally mounted on housing 48 by pin 49. The shaft 51 of aconventional manual door locking and unlocking pin 50 extends throughthe molding (not shown) of the vehicle door. Shaft 51 is fastened to oneend of hell crank lever 56 (FIGS. 5 and 6) which is adapted to pivotabout pin 57, the other end of lever 56 fitting within notched recess 58within link 52. Link 52 is pivotally mounted on pin 53 which extendsfrom flange 54 positioned at a right angle to plate 55 of housing 48.

As can be seen from FIG. 6, when shaft 51 is depressed, link 56 Willpivot in a clockwise direction, and link 52 will pivot in acounterclockwise direction about its pivot pin 53 to cause the portion58' of link 52 to move downwardly and carry prong 59 of lever 60 (FIG.5) downwardly with it, prong 59 fitting within the slotted portion 61 oflink '52 (FIG. 5). It will be noted that a snap spring 62 has one end 63anchored on flange 54 and the other end 64 anchored in link 52. Thus,when manual locking pin 50 is depressed to a locked condition, it is thesnap spring 62 which maintains link 52 in a locked position.

Shaft 45 of fluid pressure motor 40 is coupled to shaft 65 (FIGS. 5 and6) which is, in turn, coupled to hell crank lever 56. Thus the downwardmovement of shaft 45' in response to the existence of vacuum in chamber40 of fluid pressure motor 31 will cause a downward movement of shaft 65which, in turn, will cause a downward movement of the leg of hell cranklever 56 to which shaft 65 is attached to thereby pivot link 52 to theposition shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

After link 60 has been pivoted in a clockwise direction about pin 66 inthe above-described manner, the movement of pin 67 to the right, asoccurs when the outside door handle (not shown) is manipulated, willcause lever 60 to pivot clockwise about pin 61' and cause link 6%(attached to lever 60 by pin 66) to move to the right in FIG. 5.However, the end 68 of link 60 will not engage flange 69 of bell cranklever 47. Thus, the manipulation of the outside door handle will beineffective for unlocking the door lock.

It is only after link 60 has been pivoted about pin 66 in acounterclockwise direction that the end 63 thereof may engage flange 69when the outside door handle is manipulated. When end 68 of link 60abuts flange 69 of bell crank lever 47 in response to the movement ofpin 67 to the right during a door opening operation, lever 47 will pivotin a clockwise direction about pin 49, and the leg 79 of lever 47 whichis within the recessed portion 71 of lever 72 will cause the latter topivot in a counterclockwise direction about its pivot pin 73 against thebias of spring 74. This, in turn, will cause the tongue 75 to ceaseengagement with ratchet wheel 77 which is, in turn, coaxially mounted onshaft 78 with the rotary door latch 79. When the above-described lockingarrangement for the rotary door latch 79 is released, latch 79 is freeto move relative to the striker plate (not shown) on the door jamb topermit the vehicle door to be pulled to an open position.

As described in detail above, it can readily be seen that when throttlevalve 16 of carburetor 17 is opened in response to the depressing of theaccelerator of the vehicle while the engine is operating, vacuum will beinduced in chamber 40 of. motor 31 to thereby effect a door lockingoperation in response to an act performed during the initial phase ofoperation of the vehicle. It will further be appreciated that. wheneverthe accelerator is depressed during vehicle operation, the opening ofthrottle valve 16 with the corresponding relatively high passage of airthrough carburetor 17 will cause a sufficiently great vacuum to existwithin chamber 40 of motor 31 to prevent the lifting of pin 50 of lock46. This action, in effect, prevents the unlocking of the vehicle doorsfrom within the vehicle while the vehicle is in motion. It will furtherbe appreciated that Whenever the vehicle is left unoccupied with theengine in operation, the impossibility of obtaining a sufiicient flow ofair through the carburetor to actuate motors 31 will preclude thevehicle operator from being locked out of the vehicle. It will beunderstood, of course, that the engine speed may be increased bymanipulating the throttle valve from within the engine compartment. Butsince this must be done when the engine hood is up, valve 23 willprevent motor chamber 40 from being aspirated in response to increasedair flow through the carburetor.

If it is desired to unlock the vehicle door from within the vehicle,inside door handle (FIG. 1) is pivoted in a clockwise direction aboutthe axis of pin 86'. This will cause link 87 to move to the right. Ascan be seen from FIG. 5, link 87 is connected to lever 88 which is, inturn, pivotally mounted to flange 54 as by rivet 89. The

upper end 90 of lever 88 extends across lip 91 of hell crank lever 47.The movement of link 87, as described above, will cause end 90 of lever88 to pivot about pin 89 into the plane of the drawing to thereby engagelip 91 of lever 47. This will cause lever 47 to pivot clockwise andcause lip 75 of lever 72 to be disengaged from ratchet wheel 77 topermit the door to be opened.

As described above, the unlocking of the vehicle doors may be effectedby means of manual unlocking pin 50 or door handle 85'. However, thevehicle operator may desire to unlock a vehicle door from a remoteposition to permit a passenger to enter the vehicle. To this end, aremote control is provided within the vehicle. This control consists ofa manually actuable valve 95 (FIGS. 1 and 4) which may he mounted on thevehicle dashboard, as shown, or on any other convenient part of thevehicle, such as the drivers door. Valve 95 consists of a housing 96having a lever 97 pivotally mounted thereon by pin 98. When it isdesired to unlock the doors from a rcmoteposition, lever 97 is pivotedin a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 4) and the end 99 thereof willdepress valve 100 against the bias of spring 101. This will permit thevacuum in tank 13 to communicate with chamber 102 (FIG. 5) of fluidpressure motor 31 through conduit 103 (FIGS. 1 and 4), valve chamber104, conduit 105, T 106, and conduit 107 (FIGS. 1 and 5). Other conduits(not numbered) which are analogous to conduit 107 are shown in FIG. 1for providing fluid pressure to the other door locking motors; Theexistence of vacuum in chamber 102 of motor 31 (FIG. 5) will causediaphragm 45 to move upwardly and cause a corresponding upward movementof shaft 45' and link 65 attached thereto. The upward movement of link65 will move bell crank lever 56 (FIG. 6) in a counterclockwisedirection about pivot pin 57 to cause link 52 to move to positionwhereby it places latch lock 46 in an unlocked condition, as describedabove. When latch lock 46 is placed in an unlocked condition, thevehicle door may be opened from the outside by manipulating the doorhandle (not shown) which, in turn, causes pin 67 to move to the right(FIG. 5) to cause the end 68 of link 60 to engage flange 69 to effect anunlocking of the vehicle door, as described in detail above.

It will, of course, be appreciated that chamber 40 of motor 31 (FIG. 5)must be vented to the atmosphere during the upward movement of diaphragm45 as described above. This venting is effected through conduit 29(FIGS. 5 and 1), conduit 28 in communication therewith, conduit 26,check valve 25, vent 44, conduit 24, valve 23, conduit 21, T 20, andconduit 18 which is in communication with the inside of carburetor 17.

If, for any reason, it is desired to manually look all of the doors froma remote position, it is merely necessary to pivot lever 97 of valve 96in a clockwise direction to cause valve 108 (FIG. 4) to unseat againstthe bias of spring 109. This will permit vacuum to communicate betweentank 13 and chamber 40 of motor 31 (FIG. 5) through conduit 103 (FIGS. 1and 4), valve chamber 119, conduit 28, and conduit 29. It will, ofcourse, be appreciated that the'conduits which are analogous to conduit29 provide vacuum to the other door locking motors.

Whenever door locking is effected in the aforegoing manner by the use ofcontrol 95, chamber 102 of motor 31 must be vented to the atmosphere.This venting is achieved through conduit 107 (FIG. 1), T 106, conduit105 (FIGS. 1 and 4), chamber 111 of control 95, the inside of hollowvalve stem 112, the space 113 between the outside of hollow shaft 112and the inside of valve stem 114, chamber 115, and vent 116 to theatmosphere. It will, of course, be appreciated that the above describedparts which permit venting of motor chamber 102 assume the positionshown in FIG. 4 Whenever the handle 97 of control valve 95 is either inthe neutral position shown in FIG. 4 or in a position wherein it opensvalve 108. It will, of course, be appreciated that chamber 102 is ventedin the above-described manner whenever the air flow through thecarburetor evacuates chamber 40. of motor 31 to effect automatic doorlocking.

Whenever control valve 95 is manually manipulated to cause remotelocking of all the vehicle door locks, check valve 25 (FIG. 3), preventsthe venting of vacuum tank 13 to the atmosphere. More specifically,whenever handle 97 of control 95 is pivoted in a clockwise direction topermit communication between vacuum tank 13 and conduit 28 leading tothe door locking motors, conduit 26, which is in communication with bothconduit 28 and check valve 25, will be evacuated. However, conduit 24,which is in communication with the other side of check valve 25, isvented to the atmosphere which exists in carburetor 1 7. Since thevacuum in conduit 26 is greater than the vacuum in conduit 24 (see FIG.3), check valve element 41 will be drawn to a closed position to preventventing of tank 13 to the atmosphere. It will be noted, however, thatbleed 44 in valve 25 is sufliciently small to prevent the undesirableventing during a manual remote lock actuating operation.

In the event that the vehicle doors have been unlocked by the use ofcontrol 95, these locks will be immediately reloc'ked as soon as thevehicle engine has its speed increased from an idling condition whetherthis increase in engine speed is experienced either during accelerationof a moving vehicle or the racing of the vehicle engine when the vehicleis at a standstill. Furthermore, in the event that a passenger hasdeparted from a vehicle and has merely unlocked one vehicle door fromwithin the vehicle, upon an increase in engine speed in the abovedescribed manner, the door will be relocked,

It can thus be seen that the arrangement of the present invention ismanifestly capable of achieving the above enumerated objects. While theaspirating effect for causing automatic locking of the vehicle doorsduring vehicle acceleration is shown as being obtained from the conduitwhich is normally used for advancing the engine spark, it will readilybe appreciated that the aspirating of the door locking motors may beachieved by causing them to be in communication with any portion of thecarburetor through which there is a suiiicient air flow tocreate therequired aspirating efiect. I

It will be especially realized that except for a few simple controlswhich are utilized in the system, the door locking motors are directlycoupled to the vacuum sources which actuate them. This direct coupling,without the use of expensive intermediate controls, permits the presentdoor locking system to be added to an existing vehicle at a relativelylow expense. I

While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has beendisclosed, it is to be understood that the present invention is notlimited thereto but may be otherwise embodied within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A door locking system for a vehicle having an engine therein,comprising a door in said vehicle, a door lock operatively associatedwith said door, a fluid pressure motor for actuating said door lock to alocked or an unlocked condition, a source of vacuum operativelyassociated with the intake manifold of the vehicle engine, control meansfor selectively coupling said source of vacuum to said motor means forcausing lockingor unlocking of said door look, a carburetor for saidengine, and aspirating means operatively associated with said carburetorfor creating a vacuum supply for said motor means to cause locking ofsaid door lock when the air flow through said carburetor is increased toa value above the normal air flow experienced while the engine isidling.

2. A locking system for an automotive vehicle having an engine thereincomprising a door in said vehicle, a door lock for said door, motormeans, a source of vacuum produced by the engine intake manifold,control means for selectively coupling said source to said motor meansfor causing locking or unlocking of said door lock, and aspirating meansoperable incidental to increased engine speeds above idling forautomatically evacuating said motor means for causing locking of saiddoor lock.

A door locking system for a vehicle having an engine therein comprisinga door in said vehicle, a door lock for said door, a vacuum motor,- asource of vacuum, manual control means for coupling said vacuum motor tosaid source of vacuum for causing selective unlocking of said vehicledoor lock, a carburetor in said vehicle, and means coupled to saidcarburetor and independent of said source of vacuum for providing vacuumin response to the aspirating effect of airflow therethrough for causingautomatic actuation of said door locking motor to a door lockingcondition when said engine operates at speeds above its idling speed.

4. In an automotive vehicle, an engine, an intake manifold for saidengine, a carburetor for said engine 7 having an induction passage, avacuum Operated door lock, means for selectively causing vacuum producedby said engine intake manifold to operate said door lock, and meansresponsive to the aspirating effect produced by air flow through theinduction passage of said carburetor at speeds above engine idling speedfor providing a second source for producing a vacuum for operating saiddoor lock.

5. A door locking system for a vehicle having an engine thereincomprising a door in said vehicle, a door lock for said door, motormeans for actuating said door lock, a carburetor in said vehicle havingan induction passage, and conduit means coupling the induction passageof said carburetor to said door locking motor Whereby the aspiratingefiect produced by the passage of air through said carburetor at speedsabove engine idling speed aotuates said motor thereby causing locking ofsaid door lock.

6. A door locking system for a vehicle comprising a door in saidvehicle, a latch lock for said door, fluid pressure motor means foractuating said latch lock, a carburetor in said which having aninduction passage, conduit means coupling the induction passage of said8 carburetor to said door locking motor whereby the aspirating effectproduced by the passage of air through said carburetor at increasedengine speeds above idling actuates said motor which in turn causeslocking. of said door lock, means for maintaining said latch lock lockedagainst opening from outside the vehicle when the aspirating efiect nolonger actuates said motor, and manual means within said vehicle forunlocking said latch lock when said aspirating effect no longer actuatessaid motor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,096,158 Bryant Oct. 19, 1937 2,198,862 Chesler Apr. 30, 1940 2,204,208Craig June 11, 1940 2,369,713 Burgard Feb. 20, 1945 2,418,031 HortonMar. 27, 1947 2,471,111 Mallory May 24, 1949 2,473,170 Ostling June 14,1949 2,530,628 Pivero Nov. 21, 1950 2,609,665 Rappl Sept. 9, 19522,848,057 Forster Aug. 19, 1958

